


Soulmates

by MandaScooby



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-02 01:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13307958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandaScooby/pseuds/MandaScooby
Summary: Rodney has quite the surprise planned for his romantic getaway with Jennifer. Too bad the device collected from MP6-529 probably just killed him. Or at the very least separated his body from his . . . well, Rodney doesn't believe in souls anyhow. AU where Atlantis stays happily situated in the Pegasus Galaxy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work-in-progress. Crossposted on ffnet. I can't say how often updates will come. I'll post the first 5 chapters one a week, and then updates will come as inspiration strikes. (Inspiration tends to strike after I get comments and kudos, but maybe that's just a coincidence...)
> 
> I do not own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters.

"Jen is so gonna kill me," Rodney McKay muttered to himself as he scrambled around his lab, shoving things in mostly the right places. He stashed an LSD in a desk drawer, and absently stuffed the small device he'd been trying to figure out in his jacket pocket. He chanced another glance at his watch. He might have time to change, but not enough to shower or shave. "If she can't take me at my worst . . ." he muttered.

Shoving the laptop under his armpit, Rodney glanced over his domain once more to see if there was anything he had forgotten. He snatched up a small velvet box and shoved it in the opposite pocket. Once he was satisfied that everything could stay in its current state until tomorrow, he turned the lights off with a simple thought and rushed out of the room.

There was no way he was going to miss his romantic off world excursion with his hopefully soon-to-be fiancee.

Rodney was too lost in his thoughts to notice his surroundings, which was a problem he suffered from often. He didn't notice the puddle of water until he was already sliding on it, failing at keeping his balance on the heels of his feet. He soon found himself on his butt.

"Great. That's just great!" He yelled to the floor. "I  _really_  don't have time for this! What moron spilled water and didn't bother-" He continued to grumble as he worked his way up onto his knees. He heard more than felt the small round object fall from his pocket. He turned to look behind him, reaching to grab the runaway device. His hand stopped short, however when he noticed it was sparking.

"Oh, not good. Water. Electronics. This is bad." He watched the device for another beat, then jumped up suddenly. "And why am I just sitting here in the puddle with the electric current? Do I have a death wish?"

He was fine, however. He hadn't even received the slightest of shocks, but he still felt better standing on drier ground. He stared at it a moment longer, he really didn't have time for this crap. Rodney shucked off his jacket and wrapped it around his left hand and arm, hoping the fabric would be enough insulation to keep him from frying when he grabbed the object. He looked back at the device once more before bending down, his arm outstretched inches away from its sparking target. Then, without warning, a round ball of light, about the size of a golf ball shot out of the device.

Rodney took an instinctual step backwards.

"What the?"

For the better part of two days he'd been trying to figure out the artifact they'd collected at MP6-529. It had to do  _something_. However, nothing he tried had been able to get even the smallest response from the stubborn round ball. He hadn't resorted to getting Sheppard to activate it, yet.

" _Perhaps, it is just toy."_ Radek had said.

" _And why would Ancient scientists leave a toy in their labs?"_

" _Perhaps, they could not find a babysitter on day they decided to abandon their projects."_

Rodney definitely hadn't tried getting it wet. Because, well, water and electronics rarely mixed, and usually with unfortunate results. But apparently, water was what made  _this_  electronic artifact tick. Or shoot out light balls. He watched as it floated through the air, slowly, gracefully.

"So, what do  _you_  do?" He asked the light, not able to keep the awe out of his voice.

The ball of light suddenly stopped, hovering inches from his nose, seemingly as a response to his question. Then with equal abruptness, it exploded in his face.

And Rodney McKay dropped to the floor.

* * *

"This is not a good angle for me."

Rodney stared down at the crumpled shape at his feet. The crumpled shape of  _himself_. His face a mask of pure horror. Thoughts began to race around his mind, ranging from panicked to absurd. And he soon found himself in full rant mode.

"Oh, no! I'm dead! I  _died._ That . . . that  _thing_  . . .  _killed me_! This, well, this is making me seriously question my views on theology and the afterlife. How can I be witness to my own death if if if there is no afterlife? Oh, I am so not in the mood to be questioning my 'spirituality' right now."

He dropped the hand that had been air quoting a moment earlier and began snapping his fingers aggressively.

"Maybe, maybe I've ascended. I almost did once. No, but then . . ."

He lost grasp of the thought, but that wasn't enough to stop the rant from coming.

"Jen is so gonna  _kill me_!" He repeated his thoughts from a few minutes ago. "Oh, no! Jen! What will she do now that I'm dead? I'm sure she'll be devastated. Who will be there to . . . Ronon!"

He shouted, not to complete his thought, but to grab the attention of the hulking figure that just walked past the perpendicular hallway without so much as glancing Rodney's way.

"Ronon! Hey! Stop! I'm dead over here!"

Rodney toyed with the idea of leaving himself and chasing the big goon down, but didn't for two reasons. First, that if he really was a ghost and no one could see him, it was of no use anyway. And second, the thought of leaving himself to die alone was unsettling.

"And now I'm crazy! Thinking about myself as if I'm two different people!"

He looked down once more at his prone body.


	2. Chapter 2

Jennifer Keller looked at her watch for perhaps the tenth time in as many minutes. She shouldn't have been angry. After all, losing track of time was one of her weaknesses as well. But she  _was_  angry. She thought Rodney cared more than that about her. Well, she'd just have to drag him away from his computers and artifacts herself.

_Preferably by the ears_ , she thought with a smile as she stepped into a transporter. Moments later, she stomped out of the transporter nearest the science labs rolling away the tension building in her shoulders.

Jen hated confrontations, but if she wanted this relationship to last-and as baffling as it was she  _really_ did want it to last-then she'd have to make McKay answer for being so, well, so  _McKay_  all the time. She could only imagine what a lifetime with Rodney McKay might hold for her. She tried to hold on to her anger, but with that last thought she found herself smiling.

She rounded the last corner and her eyes immediately fell on the form on the floor several meters away. The anger and wistfulness both dissipated as her inner physician kicked in. Jen quickened her pace.

As she got closer, she found that she recognized the figure, and her stomach roiled unpleasantly.

"McKay!" She called as she broke into a full run, quickly closing the distance between them. There was no response.

Once she was mere feet away, Dr. Keller dropped to her knees onto the damp floor and slid the remaining inches to the unconscious physicist. She immediately began checking him over. He didn't seem to have any physical signs of trauma; his pulse was strong, breathing regular. If she didn't know better, she'd think he was just sleeping. But knowing how loudly he'd fought for his prescription mattress, she really doubted Rodney would decide a wet hallway was a good place for a nap.

Satisfied that she would cause no damage by jostling him, Jennifer began shaking McKay by the shoulder.

"C'mon, Rodney. Wakey, wakey." She urged quietly.

McKay watched as Keller checked his pulse and leaned in close to hear his breathing-or lack thereof. She must not have liked what she found, because she began to violently shake him.

"Are you trying to make me sick?" The invisible McKay shouted at her. The shouts fell on deaf ears. "I'm dead! Start CPR or something!"

Something like angry determination settled on the physician's face. And she began some shouting of her own.

"I know you were trying to get out of this party, McKay, but this is just unreasonable."

She drew her hand back and then whipped her open palm towards the sleeping scientist's face, making connection with a resounding SLAP!

"Hey, now!" Ghost Rodney roared, bringing a hand to his stinging cheek. "That  _hurt!_ "

And then the worry set in again. Ghosts weren't supposed to feel pain inflicted upon their lifeless bodies! A sudden dreadful thought threatened to overpower his mind.

"Keller, whatever you do, don't have me cremated!"

Jennifer obviously did not acknowledge the panicked outburst. Even if she had been able to hear it, she was starting to have a panic attack of her own. As far as she could tell, Rodney was not hurt, and appeared to be merely sleeping. But none of her attempts to rouse him was succeeding.

She tapped her comm.

"I have a medical emergency in the science corridor." She informed the line reserved for medical personnel and senior staff. She continued to shake and prod the scientist on the floor while she waited for a response.

"I've changed my mind about donating my body to science too," Rodney continued his anxious rambling, "And organ donation? I want to opt out! Anything that involves removing . . . oh, would you stop that already?"

The constant motion was something Rodney was getting sick of, in every definition of the word.

"It's Dr. McKay," Jennifer was saying, "he's unconscious and unresponsive. I see no signs of physical trauma, and his vitals are . . ."

But before she could inform the medical team, Woolsey, and Sheppard that Rodney's pulse was strong and his breathing regular, the device in the puddle began to sputter and spark once more. Then, just as before, a golf ball of light shot out and began to bounce around the hallway.

"Keller, listen to me," Rodney's eyes were pleading, staring into a face that could not see him, his voice begging, talking to ears that could not hear him, "Just leave me and get out of here!"

When the orb hovered in front of Jen's face, she stared at it in awe, then reached up a hand as if to touch it. She let her finger hover in front of it.

"Are you kidding me?" Rodney shouted in Jennifer's unhearing ear. "If I'm unconscious and a ball of energy burst from the sparking device inches from where I obviously fell, you don't reach for it!"

The ball began to dance gracefully, back and forth in front of Jennifer's face, and she just couldn't help it. She tapped the orb with her index finger, and almost instantaneously found herself enveloped in and intense white light as the orb erupted at the touch.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I forgot to update this! Hope you enjoy.

Dr. Jennifer Keller was still staring at the spot where the glowing light had been moments ago, as if in a daze. Truthfully, she was kind of amazed that the blast hadn't knocked her unconscious, and she began to wonder if the device had something to do with her favorite scientist's current state. She was brought out of her reverie by his very voice. But not below him, from the body on the floor, but behind and above her.

"I thought you were smarter than that." And there he was standing behind her, just as real as the McKay in front of her was. And he was in full rant mode, facing away from her yelling into the air. "I  _know_  you are. I wouldn't date just any imbecile. Well, not that Katie Brown was a genius, by any stretch of the imagination, but she excelled to a certain degree in her field. Which, truthfully, is a very small field, and one of questionable usefulness."

Jennifer turned her head once more to the quieter Rodney at her feet and was surprised when she noticed another body laying awkwardly over his. She was embarrassed when she realized it was her own.  _Oh, boy, this'll be fun when the med team comes and finds us like this,_ Jen thought.

"The fact that I never saw her as an equal probably has something to do with why we're no longer together. But that's neither here nor there."

Jennifer had to admit that she had no idea what was going on, and she couldn't think the situation through with Rodney's word vomit reverberating in her head. "Rodney."

"Point is," he continued to berate the ceiling, undeterred, "that I thought that you were smart enough to give me a run for my money, at least in certain softer sciences."

"Rodney!"

"But then you go and touch the glowing orb of light that shoots out of a sparking and obviously malfunctioning device that is mere inches from an unconscious body. Common sense, Keller!"

"McKay!"

Finally, he turned and rounded on her, " _What?"_

"Did you just call me an intellectual equal, Rodney?" Keller asked.

Rodney opened and closed his mouth thinking of a good response, when his eyes looked past Jennifer to their two prone bodies on the floor. He was lying on his back, legs spread at odd angles. Jen was flopped across his torso, her forehead buried in his neck, one hand splayed to the side, the other grasping his wrist. "Oh, we cannot let them find us  _like that!_ "

"Think we can move 'em . . . us? Man, this is weird." Jen lifted her foot to nudge the unconscious version of herself. Her foot seemed to disappear inside the unmoving leg. "That's what I was afraid of. So, what have you done to us now, McKay?"

"Me?  _Us?_  First, blame whoever spilled water in the hallway and didn't clean up after themselves. I swear these people think I'm their maintenance man, their mechanic, and their maid. Secondly,  _you_ should have known better that to touch that light. Who are you  _Sheppard_?"

"Oh, I should have known better? What about  _you?_  You obviously touched it too. Sometimes you can be such a walking double standard!"

"Ouch," Rodney said with a wounded look, "Okay, I didn't touch it, I was trying to swat it away when it, it, it . . ." A cross-eyed Rodney made a K'whoosh sound, while miming an explosion with his hands. "Got it? Trying to get it away from me, not reaching out to touch it."

Jennifer just looked at her scientist for a few moments. Man, if she didn't love him so much, she'd probably hate him. His face was like an open book where all who gazed upon it could easily read all his emotions. Right now she was watching as his indignation turned into worry, and she knew he was worrying that he'd upset her. The man worried too much.

"Ok," she said, "But I did touch it, and now we're like this. And I don't even know what  _this_  is. If we were, like, on a different plane of existence, or something, our bodies would have come with us. Right?"

McKay was just nodding. She could never tell if he was actually listening to her when he was so obviously deep in thought. But she'd learned to quit being surprised to find out that he'd heard, processed, and understood every word, all while processing thoughts of his own. Rodney McKay was a master at the art of multi-tasking. Well, at least in things that involved his mind.

"Hey, McKay, I think someone's coming this way."

"Well, hopefully it's that medical assistance you asked for. However knowing my luck, it's probably Ronon. He ran past a few minutes ago. Completely ignored me, of course. No surprise there. Who runs this early anyway?"

It  _was_  Ronon. Running from the opposite direction gave him a better view down the corridor, and it was harder to miss  _two_  bodies on the floor. He only hesitated a moment before turning his agile body to sprint to his unconscious colleagues.

Except he didn't realize they were unconscious at first.

"What are you two doing? What's that phrase Sheppard says?  _Get a room_." His laugh died in his throat, though, when the doctors still hadn't moved.

"Jennifer? Are you okay?"

A sound behind him grabbed his attention. The medical team was racing towards them with a gurney. Just one.

"They're unconscious," Ronon said.

"We know-wait,  _both_  of them?" A nurse asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh, well, we only brought the one gurney."

Without another word, Ronon stooped down and scooped Dr. Keller up.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh, this is humiliating!" Rodney slumped his shoulders and covered his face as his body was hefted onto the waiting bed cart.

"Like this is your first time being wheeled to the infirmary," Jennifer ribbed.

"Yeah, well, I didn't have to witness it those other times. This is humiliating," he repeated.

"How do you think I feel about being carried by Ronon?"

Rodney looked to the giant cradling Jennifer to his chest. One of her hands was draped around Ronon's neck, while the other was nestling comfortable against his burly chest. Her head was resting on his ample shoulder. And was that a small smile Rodney saw playing on his girlfriend's sleeping face? Gah!

"I don't know. You look  _pretty cozy_  to me. I think you're enjoying it."

That earned him a backhanded smack to the upper arm.

"Hey!"

"You know, McKay, a lot of people were disappointed when I  _chose you_  over Ronon."

"Yeah, well, those people are  _wrong_. And they better just get used to the idea of us together."

Rodney panicked for a moment, thinking he had possibly said too much, but Jennifer wasn't paying any attention, she was following the medical team with her eyes as they rounded a corner and disappeared out of sight.

"Do you think we ought to follow  _us_  to the infirmary?"

McKay sighed and bent to pick up the device that started this whole mess. As a response to Jennifer's question, he held out his hand, snapping his fingers when she didn't immediately take it in hers, and led her through Atlantis's quiet halls.

They took a significantly slower pace than the med team, and so the infirmary doors were shut when they arrived. Jennifer waved her hand over the control panel, but nothing happened.

"Oh, right," she mused, "invisible. I wonder . . ."

She lifted her hand experimentally to touch the door. And was fascinated, thought not completely surprised, when her fingers passed straight through the cool metal. Jennifer dropped Rodney's hand and walked through the doors with both arms stretched out in front of her, watching with amusement as they faded from view.

Rodney gave her retreating back a small smile. This quirky blonde often amused him. Once she'd completely disappeared, he moved to follow her, only to smack face first into the solid door.

"Ow! My poor nose!" He shouted a few expletives to punctuate his pain.

"What was that?" A nurse asked the room, responding to the sound of Rodney's impact, not to his potty mouth, which only Jennifer was audience to. The nurse opened the door to peek her head out, searching for the source before shrugging and ducking back inside. Rodney, ever the opportunist, followed her in before the doors slid shut again.

"Hurt yourself, McKay?" Jennifer couldn't hide the laugh in her voice.

"How come the door's solid for me and not for you?" He grumbled.

"You're bleeding," she said, looking away.

"What? No, I'm not. Am I?"

McKay touched the dry skin above his lip, and then looked at his clean fingers in confusion. He looked up when another voice piped in.

"Why's he bleeding?" Ronon.

Several heads, including Rodney's, turned to look at the Chief of Science on the bed. A steady stream of blood was flowing from one nostril.

"Oh, gross!" Rodney whined.

"But informative." Jennifer pointed to the figures in the beds. "Apparently if anything happens to  _us_  it affects  _them_."

"And vice versa," Rodney said. "I felt that slap earlier, by the way."

Jennifer didn't apologize or even have the decency to look abashed, so Rodney continued talking.

"So, how come you got to 'ghost' through the door," he began repeating his earlier question, "and I slammed into it face first?"

Jen just shrugged. "Might have something to do with that piece of tech you've got in your pocket."

A number of emotions played across his face. First confusion, then understanding, somewhere in the middle there was awe, before it finally settled on something akin to pride. And that pride was beaming in Jennifer's direction.

"Why are you looking at me with that goofy grin?" She took an exaggerated step backwards away from him.

"I love you."

She couldn't stop her face from mirroring his then. Then in a moment of impulse, she grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him into her. His eyes grew wide, startled, before closing as she pressed her lips against his.

After several long moments, Rodney regained his composure enough to push himself away from the enchantress.

"Jen!" He chastised in a theatre whisper. "Not it the crowded infirmary!"

"Why not?" She asked, feigning innocence while looping her arms around his neck. She leaned into him on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "We're  _invisible_ , Rodney."

She sent shivers through him as she kissed his earlobe and neck. The kissing stopped and she added, "even if we weren't invisible, a man is allowed to kiss his woman in public."

"His-his woman?" Rodney's eyes were looking anywhere but at hers.

Jen loved making McKay squirm. Uncomfortable was one of his natural states, somewhere between arrogant and panicked. The embrace lasted a few moments more before it became apparent that Rodney wouldn't be reciprocating the affection in so "public" a setting. Jen released him with a small sigh, again wondering why Rodney would not flaunt their relationship in public the way he loved to flaunt everything else he had that others did not. Sometimes when she let her mind wander on its own, it would think that maybe he was embarrassed, that maybe having a girlfriend made him fallible, more human to the science department that looked up to him.

Of course, she'd chastise herself for even thinking of thinking such things. Jennifer tried not to take his negligence personally; in fact, she seemed to be fairing pretty well. After all, no one had realized that he and his last girlfriend, Katie Brown, had continued dating for a number of years until they finally broke up. She remembered Sheppard joking when Rodney told him of Katie's rejection,  _Isn't that old news, McKay?_  And then Rodney snapping,  _I don't know how it could be, it just happened yesterday!_

No. Jen vowed that she would not be another Katie Brown. What she and Rodney had was different. For one thing, it was real. What he had with Katie was superficial and convenient. No. People would know that Rodney was  _her_  genius, and she was his. She'd make sure of that.


	5. Chapter 5

Rodney's brain was going a thousand kilometers per hour. Though, for him, that was pretty typical. If he hadn't been troubling over the device, the door, the nosebleed, he might have indulged her. She did have a point, they were invisible. But his mind was occupied elsewhere.

Or it had been. But now that Keller had moved away and was now examining their unconcious selves the best she could under the circumstances, he found his mind wandering.

There were several factors that contributed to his aversion to public displays of affection. Growing up, his family had never really been the touchy-feely type. Oh, they loved each other, but showed it more in the celebratory-dinner-for-acing-the-test sort of way, and with teasing and funny nicknames. He couldn't remember ever hugging his father, and had hugged his mother only on a few occasions: high school graduation, the first day of university, Jeannie's wedding, and right before he left the galaxy, wondering if he'd ever see his mother again. That hug had taken his mom by surprise. Rodney just showed up one day out of the blue and spent the whole day with her, and wished he could have answered when she asked when he would be visiting next. Then he found himself hugging her hard, longer than all their previous hugs combined.

As unnatural as it came to him, still, Rodney wanted to reciprocate Jennifer's affectionate touches. But there was another factor that niggled in the back of his head, more powerful than being reared with a sturdy personal bubble. He didn't want people to think less of Keller for being with him. For settling for him. Already he'd heard chatter that there were some who wondered what she was getting out of the relationship.

Like McKay had nothing to bring to the table? It made his blood boil. But perhaps they were right. She was much too good for him. Jennifer Keller was the most loving and caring human being he'd ever met. And Rodney was, well,  _prickly_  was probably an understatement.

Was it so hard to believe that Jennifer loved him just for him? If he didn't know for a fact that there wasn't one deceitful bone in her body, Rodney would have trouble believing it himself. But she did love him, pricklies and all. And all he did was push her away.

He chanced a glance in her direction. She'd given up trying to diagnose the two of them and was again standing beside him. With a new resolve to show her how much he cared, Rodney reached over and put his arm around her waist. She looked startled for a moment, but recovered quickly giving him an easy smile. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.

They stood there until the silence became too much for McKay. He pulled the smal object from his pocket with his free hand and began to turn it over, allowing both of them a good look at it.

"What do you suppose the Ancients' goal was rendering themselves unconcious and invisible?" Rodney asked.

"Unconcious and invisible." Jennifer made a face. "Hmm, that's an ambiguous way to desbribe it. I'd say it . . . seperated our souls from our bodies."

"To-may-toe. To-mah-toe. I know what it did, I don't need to describe it. What I want to know is _why it happened_  and  _how to fix it_. Also, I don't believe in souls. Do you?"

Keller wisely chose to ignore this and answered his original question. "Well, maybe they used it for gathering intel from enemies? I mean, with this device you could do almost anything without getting caught. If you're holding it, you can interact with the normal world, like, well,  _normal_ , but no one can see you. And if you're not holding it, you can get into places you normally couldn't."

Rodney really needed to learn to stop being impreseed at Jennifer. Afterall, she was a genius too.

"What kind of answer is that?" He teased, trying not to let his pride show.

"A practical one." Jennifer grinned as Rodney pulled her in for a quick kiss.

"That's why I keep you around. But, seriously, you've been hanging out with Sheppard too much. A world of possiblities and your mind instantly turns to the military explanation. I'll just have to make sure all those military types know they can't have you."

Mckay moved in for another kiss-he could get used to these "public" displays of affection with a little more practice-but Keller stopped him, putting two fingers between their lips.

"I thought you wanted me to kiss you!" He complained.

"I do." She paused as her heart did a backflip at those words, "There will be plenty more kisses in the very near future, but don't you think we should figure out how to turn it off?"

McKay's brain was no longer working properly. Jennifer Keller was absolutely intoxicating.

"Turn what off?" Rodney asked, absently. "Oh, you mean the device. Good, 'cause I thought you meant something else . . ."

Jennifer was talking over him and missed his embarrassing moment. "I mean, if we let our bodies stay sleeping for too long, it might get awkward if we don't wake up in the next few hours. Remember we can feel everything that our bodies can."

"I don't . . . "

"When was the last time you ate, Mckay? Or used the little physicists' room?"

Rodney's face lit with sudden understanding. "Yes, right. That's an unpleasant thought. Ok, so, turning it off . . ."

He inspected the object from all angles, bringing it close to his face. He thought OFF as hard as he could. That didn't work, though he hadn't really expected it to. There were no buttons, knobs, dials, screens, or switched anywhere on teh device. He held it out to her, "Any ideas?"

She took it with her free hand, her other presently tickling designs on Rodney's back. She turned it around a few times before stopping, her thumbnail in a shallow groove that ran along its length.

"Do you think this could be a seam? Maybe it pops open?"

"Maybe we need another set of eyes. And I happen to know a bespectacled pair that is likely doing squat today."


	6. Chapter 6

_So much for my relaxing weekend,_  John Sheppard thought to himself. He'd wanted to sleep in, eat late, take it easy, while Rodney was on his romantic rendezvous. That idea had shattered when he'd been woken up by Jennifer's panicked voice coming through on the com system in his bedroom at 0500 hours. Now he was standing above the unconscious forms of his friends as they lay in the infirmary.

"It's the strangest thing," Marie was saying, "their brain activity reads as if they are awake, when clearly they are not. The closest thing I've seen to this is sleep paralysis."

"I don't know what that means, doc," John said, "But what you're telling me is you don't know what made them like this?"

"I'd describe sleep paralysis as the body still being asleep, while the mind is waking. It usually occurs during the transition from sleep to wakefulness, not the other way around. I have no idea what made them this way. I've heard it can be somewhat scary, being aware and alert, but unable to move or wake, but it shouldn't cause them any harm. However, I think this is something other than sleep paralysis, but that's the closest comparison I can make to their current condition. "

"Is it...contagious?" Ronon asked from his place between the two beds, he had a right to be concerned, as he had been the first one to find the two doctors in their current state.

Marie shook her head as she spoke, "Considering what that we don't know what we're dealing with, I'd say it's possible. But I also think it's unlikely as no one else seems to have been affected. For all intents and purposes, they are merely sleeping. But, still, I would like to wake them sooner rather than later. Say within the next eight hours or so," she said, and, turning back to Sheppard added, "Who else have you got working on this? Someone from the science team, perhaps? The sooner we track down the cause, the sooner we can find a solution."

"Oh, um. I guess I should probably tell Zelenka what's happened," John said, rubbing the back of his neck, a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought about alerting the scientist before.

"That sounds like a good idea," Marie said before she walked away to resume her work.

"I'm just gonna go," John pointed to the hallway as he addressed Ronon, "update Zelenka."

"I'll be here," the other man said, lifting his feet to rest on McKay's bed.

"Let me know if anything changes."

* * *

"Ok, but we're invisible. How are we gonna enlist his help if he can't see us?" Jen asked as they rounded the corner to Radek's personal lab.

"I'll figure that out when we get there. I'll write him a note, or something. As long as I'm holding  _this_  I'm tangible. Of course, he might not even be out of bed yet," Rodney said checking his watch, it was still before 0600 hours.. They'd planned on leaving fairly early to be able to arrive on their vacation planet close to mid-day. "Though, he should be, since he knows he's in charge whenever I'm off-world."

McKay had been looking at Jennifer as he spoke, and not where he was going, therefore he didn't see the impending collision and ran headlong right into the very scientist they'd been looking for. Since he still held the device in his hand, the impact was quite solid and both men ended up on their butts.

"Well, that's one way to announce our presence," Jen laughed, receiving a glare from her boyfriend on the floor.

Rodney's eyes hunted the floor for the object that had fallen from his grasp when he'd reached out his hands to catch himself. He saw it the same moment Radek did, but the Czech was closer.

Zelenka looked around the seemingly empty hallway in confusion. Something large had just collided with him, but the only thing in site was a tiny sphere that looked vaguely familiar. He picked it up, hoping to examine it and jog his memory of when he'd seen it. He almost dropped it again when Doctor McKay's face appeared inches away from his own.

Doctor Keller noticed the reaction. "Can you see us?"

"Yes. Now I can," and he turned on McKay, "Nice trick. Turn invisible and then go around shoving people to the ground! I thought you were in the infirmary? That's where I was just headed. Colonel Sheppard..."

But McKay wasn't listening, he seemed lost in thought. Zelenka knew that look. It was McKay's something-doesn't-make-sense face.

"What is it, Rodney?" He asked, pulling the chief scientist back to the present.

"When Keller and I touched the device, a ball of light shot out of it and then we turned invisible. But that didn't happen for you. Why?"

"How should I know? I wasn't there when you touched it. I don't even know where this came from," but then, that wasn't exactly true, "No, wait. This is the toy you were playing with last night. You figured out what it does, then!"

"It's not a toy," Rodney huffed, "And I while I know part of what it does, I don't know how to undo it. Keller and I are unconscious in the infirmary, yet somehow, here we are talking to you."

"Our souls have separated from our bodies," Jennifer interjected, earning an eye roll from Rodney.

"Ok. So, it's not a toy. What can you tell me about it so far?"

"When we're holding it, we can interact with the corporeal world," Rodney started.

"And when we're not, we kind of  _ghost_  through things," Jen continued.

"And apparently, when someone else holds it, they can see us," Rodney finished.

Radek considered the information, then lifted his hand up to his ear, "Zelenka to Colonel Sheppard. I know what has caused McKay's and Doctor Keller's  _condition_."

Before he could explain, however, the warning klaxons began to sound. Radek listened to something being said in his earpiece, then responded, "I'll be right there."

Without explanation, he took of running towards the nearest transporter.

"I vote we follow him," Rodney said. Jen had little choice in the matter, as McKay was already pulling her down the hall by the hand.

What a day this was turning out to be.


End file.
